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After Hurricane Andrew


In the days before Andrew struck South Florida, everyone was enjoying a typical summer. The weather reports were saying that we had a Hurricane heading our direction but very few people were paying attention. You have to understand, we have not had a Hurricane to speak of in almost thirty years. We are bulletproof!

That was soon to change. And change it did.

After it finally dawned on us that something was coming we prepared. All of the bottled water, plywood, candles, batteries and other misc. items were bought. We were prepared for anything!

We were sitting in our little abodes, (the garbage cans pulled in and plywood on windows) sitting dumb and happy, oblivious to what was really coming at us. When it hit, it was with a fury, unlike I had ever seen before.

It changed not only the landscape that we all knew, but the minds of every last person involved. My wife and my cats still can not stand to hear the howling of any wind. They hide at any wind noise. Our house ended up with skylights (with no glass) in every room. Where trees used to be, they were not, where businesses used to be, they were not, street signs and landmarks all gone.

The Bosses house after the Hurricane.

The fun started after the wind stopped. After surveying the damage to the house, it was amazing that no one was hurt.

We headed to the Shop to see what was left. It took 2 hours to travel what had been a 5 minute trip before. Thank God for good builders (Harris & Schroeder Builders from Homestead) The Main building just had the roof peeled off of the concrete twin tees. It was soaked but intact. Our Storage structure did not fare as well, garage doors blown in and the place was already looted.

This was where it became a Contractors worst nightmare! You spend all these years cultivating a large Customer base, but you never expect to have every one of them trying to get you at the same time. Phones were out for the first few days so everyone visited.

Lewis Electric re-opened the day after the storm hit. One of our secretaries brought an 8 kW generator from Tampa. We found all of our phone lines in a pile down the street and ran lines on anything that would hold them up. Power and Phone!

For the next two weeks our crews were hooking up generators, clearing shorts, and working on their own homes at night. At about the one week stage is when all the Carpenters, Electricians and Plumbers from up North came down. Some of these guys were a real trip. Advice for any Contractors: Do not allow any of these people to work on any job for you by themselves. I have seen supposedly Master Electricians that I would not let wire a dog house. If you care at all for your reputation do not fall into that trap.(Not to change the subject, but it would be a good idea for all Contractors to arrange an agreement with another Contractor or Contractors for assistance when something like this happens. Let me know what you think of the idea.)

By now the insurance settlements were rolling in and the jobs were getting larger and more expensive. Material costs were increasing daily, the personnel were working so hard that they weren't 100% efficient. Nobody was 100%.

When the storm hit we had 4 Crews. All through the rebuilding we still had 4 Crews. It was the only way I could maintain any quality control. Each crew grew in size but was still under the supervision of one of my Journeymen. I am very Proud of my personnel and the way they conducted themselves in that darkest of times. The compassion and goodness of heart of all concerned got all of us through it.

The main rebuilding lasted over 2 years. I'm glad it's over, but the town has changed and the people have changed. I would love to have our old Homestead / Florida City back.

In my opinion, the worst thing that happened after Andrew was Dade County's knee-jerk reaction to the influx of unlicensed and un-qualified contractors. Every Contractor in this county gets treated the same. (Bad). I for one do not care to be treated like some out of town rip off artist. The Construction Trades have a very bad name right now and this is being re-enforced by our County Elected Officials. Building costs have skyrocketed due to regulation after regulation being passed to protect the Public. The South Florida Building Code went from a book weighing approx 2 pounds to a Monster of almost 20 pounds. You don't carry that puppy around in the truck with you.

Hopefully, other locales have learned from Dade's mistakes. A good Building Code is essential. It just needs to be applied and interpreted in a rational manner.

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Update regarding Hurricane Georges coming.

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